


Arrival: Tokyo Twilight

by Mithen



Series: Scenes from a Tour of Japan [1]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/F, Japan, M/M, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 11:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6982489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The WWE arrives in Tokyo and a variety of jetlagged wrestlers anticipate (or dread) the next day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arrival: Tokyo Twilight

**Author's Note:**

> Part one of a series in which I fantasy book a few of my favorites into the upcoming Japan tour. Each pairing will get their own story!

Colin Cassady awoke from a restless sleep to the sound of someone speaking on an intercom in a language he didn’t understand. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to banish the clinging clammy threads of his dream from his mind, and realized he was staring at the back of an airplane seat. For a disoriented moment he couldn’t remember where he was. “Zo,” he muttered.

“Right here, buddy,” said Enzo Amore’s scratchy voice next to him, and Cass felt an irrational surge of relief as he looked over to see Enzo staring out the window. “Check it out,” Enzo said. “That there’s Mount Fuji.”

Cass blinked out the window at the snow-capped mountain. That’s right. Japan. They were about to be in Japan.

They were on the main roster.

“I don’t believe it,” he heard himself murmur, and Enzo punched him lightly in the arm.

“I wouldn’t lie to you about that!” Enzo said indignantly. “That really is Mount Fuji, the pilot said so while you was still asleep.”

“That’s not what I--” Cass looked at the window, and at Enzo’s profile silhouetted in front of it. “It’s beautiful,” he said instead.

Enzo turned the full force of his pop-eyed smile on him, and Cass felt his heart turn over. “It is, ain’t it?”

“It sure is,” said Cass.

* * *

“Oh my God,” said Becky Lynch. _“Japan._ I can’t believe it.” She looked around Customs and Immigration in wonder, then felt foolish, since it looked just like any other airport, really. The same lines, the same sleepy people rubbing their eyes, the same paperwork to be filled out. She looked down at her immigration forms and the Japanese writing on them. Well, not quite the same paperwork. There was English there too, but she hoped she’d filled them out right.

“You’ve been here before,” Xavier Woods said, stretching.

“Just for a couple of weeks,” Becky said. “And I was so busy wrestling I didn’t have time to see anything. We get a _whole day off_ tomorrow to explore, I can’t wait!”

“It’s just another country,” Xavier Woods said, stifling a yawn. “There’s nothing that special about it.”

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Becky said.

Xavier clapped his hands, dropping his facade of ennui faster than Brock Lesnar would drop Heath Slater. “I am _totally_ kidding you, this is a magical land of geeky joys! Video games, cosplay, manga, maid cafes, Tokyo has it _all_ , I tell you. I intend to spend all day tomorrow in--” He spread his hands wide, a magician conjuring up a vision, _“--Akihabara.”_

“I’ll go with you!”

Xavier grimaced and scratched the back of his neck. “Gee, Becky, I… was kind of planning on meeting my video game nemesis there and challenging him to a duel. I’ll be kind of busy.”

“Oh.” Becky felt herself slump. “I don’t want to go alone.”

Xavier shrugged. “Go with Sasha, I know she’s never been to Tokyo and she’s dying to explore.” He reached out and tapped Sasha, whose section of the line had snaked around to be adjacent to Becky’s, on the arm. “Aren’t you, Sasha?”

Sasha looked at Becky, lifted her lip, and looked away again.

“Oh, I can tell she’s _really_ excited,” said Becky. “Besides, she’d probably shove me on the train tracks as soon as look at me.”

Sasha hid a yawn behind her hand and didn’t contradict Becky.

“Oh, come _on,_ ” said Xavier. “Stop being a pain, Sasha, and go to Akihabara with Becky tomorrow. Please? I’ll make sure to buy you some SHINee merch if I spot any.” 

Sasha rolled her eyes. “Make it Big Bang, especially Taeyang, and I _might_ consider it. _If_ she promises not to be too geeky. Or make too many puns.”

“Sounds like someone is akiHABARING some resentment!” Becky said.

Sasha and Xavier looked at her, then looked at each other, then looked away.

“Sorry,” said Becky. “I just can’t help myself.”

The line moved on, pulling Sasha away from them. “She’s actually really excited about being in Japan,” Xavier said in a low voice to Becky. “She just doesn’t want to risk looking uncool.”

“She’s risking getting a punch in the nose at the moment,” Becky said.

“Just give her a chance,” Xavier said as Sasha reached the front of the line.

“It’s just...she’s so determined to seem cool and untouchable, and it kind of pisses me off,” Becky said.

The immigration officer said something to Sasha in Japanese, but his beckoning left no doubt what he was trying to communicate. “Oh,” said Sasha, rummaging in her bag. “Can’t forget about this.”

“Your paperwork?” Becky asked.

“More important than that.” Sasha grinned, pulling out her sunglasses and slipping them on. “Finally,” she announced, sauntering up to the desk and throwing out her arms, “The Boss has come to Tokyo!”

“Oh, phooey,” she announced shortly after, upon being told that they were terribly sorry, but the nice American lady had to take her glasses off for the paperwork photos. “You’re no fun at all.”

* * *

Sami Zayn scooped his suitcase from the carousel, yawning. It was weird to be back in Japan; he hadn’t been here since he’d signed with the WWE. A life ago. And here he was, back at last and a big famous superstar. He should feel more different. He should feel less like the same person he’d always been, grubby and tired and dizzy with jetlag.

“I can’t believe they left us on our own for hotels,” Becky Lynch grumbled behind him. “Don’t they usually put us all up in the same place?”

“Usually,” said Chris Jericho, stifling a yawn of his own, “but the ways of Stamford are mysterious. I don’t care, it’ll give me a chance to stay in a better place that whatever dump you losers might be at. Also, it should give me a couple of stupid-idiot-free nights.”

“Where are you staying?” Sami asked Becky.

“Asuka helped us all get reservations at someplace called the Century Southern Towers.”

Sami whistled, and even Jericho looked grudgingly impressed. “That’s no dump. Right in the heart of Tokyo, in Shinjuku, too. That’ll be nice.”

“Well, I found us a nice place too,” announced Enzo Amore, strutting by with his leopard-print suitcase. “And it was a major deal. Some kind of ‘business hotel.’ I figure it must be classy if businessmen stay there, right?”

“Oh,” said Sami. “Um.”

Jericho clapped Enzo on the back. “Have fun, buddy,” he said, and sauntered off.

Sami looked back and managed a weak smile and a wave as he headed to Customs.

“Hey, watch where you’re going,” snarled an all-too-familiar voice, and Sami recoiled on realizing he had nearly run into Kevin Owens. “I hate this country,” muttered Kevin, more to himself than Sami.

“I bet you never even bothered to see any of it,” Sami couldn’t help but jab back, getting into a different line for the customs check. “I bet you just stayed in the dojo or your hotel room and sulked the whole time.”

Kevin grabbed his paperwork back from the nervous customs official. “I don’t have to eat all of a shit sandwich to know I don’t like it,” he snapped.

By sheer bad luck, they both cleared customs at the same time.

“Stop following me. I’m not following you,” they said in unison as they left.

“Then why are you standing here? Go away,” said Kevin.

“I happen to be waiting for a friend,” Sami said. “He promised to put me up for a few nights while I was here. So you can just scram.”

 _“Scram,”_ Kevin snorted. “How about I _skedaddle_ while I’m at it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

 _“I’m waiting for a friend too!”_ Kevin yelled. “I got friends! I got friends all over the world, okay?”

“Just not in the WWE.”

Kevin looked away, scowling, and silence fell as they watched the crowds hurrying past. 

“Sami!” Sami brightened at the sound of a different familiar voice and started to turn toward it. “And Kevin! Great, you’re both here!”

“C.J.--I mean, Juice!” Sami threw his arms around Juice Robinson, once C.J. Parker in NXT and now working for New Japan. “Good to see you buddy!” Then Juice’s words slowly reached his brain, and he stepped back. “Wait, what do you mean, we’re both here?”

Kevin was just staring, aghast, at Juice.

“Well, you both needed a place to crash, and I figured--what?” Juice looked from one to the other. “You’re both my friends, I figured you could--”

“His friend? You broke Kevin’s nose!” Sami said.

Kevin was back to his default sneer now. “That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. It was nothing personal.”

“Nothing perso-- I mean--” Sami floundered for words, feeling oddly betrayed. “What, maybe I should just break _your_ nose and then you’d be fine with me!”

“Maybe you could try!” Kevin announced, balling up his fist.

 _“Guys!”_ bellowed Juice, and they both fell silent, along with everyone in the airport--Juice had an impressive bellow. “Guys,” he went on more quietly, slinging an arm around both of them. “I’m really happy to see you both again, I love my life here, but I miss all of you, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing you for a while now. So I’m asking you both, _as a friend,_ if you could please just fucking refrain from being douches while you’re staying with me?”

“I’m not a--” Sami fell silent as Juice gave him an imploring look. “Okay,” he finally said. “I’ll try.”

Juice looked at Kevin. “You too. Promise.”

Kevin’s mouth hovered between “pout” and “snarl” for a while, finally settling into “resigned.” “I promise to try to not kill Sami,” he muttered. “While we’re in Japan.”

Juice shrugged. “It’ll do.”

* * *

“Where’s the room?” Cass asked blankly as the door swung open. “This is...a closet, right?”

“Wow.” Even Enzo seemed at a loss for words. The only furniture in the room was the tiny double bed, which literally took up three-quarters of the room, flush against three walls.

“What the hell,” Cass said in alarm. He spread out his arms and his fingers brushed either wall. “Well, at least we can look out at the--” He pushed aside the curtain on the tiny window to reveal a lovely view of a brick wall. “Huh.” 

“That fucking--Ziggler recommended this place to me, I shoulda _known_ he’d rib me. Shit!” Enzo hurled his luggage on the bed and threw up his hands. “I shouldn’t have trusted him, Cass, I’m so sorry. I just thought I’d get us a good deal and--damn it. I screwed it up.”

“Hey,” said Cass, sitting down next to him. “It’s okay. It’s no big deal. We don’t need that much space, right? It’s just a place to crash, we don’t need no fancy frills. We’re still the realest guys in this room.”

“Easier than usual,” Enzo said a little wanly, but he smiled at Cass.

An awkward shower later--the shower head at its highest had only come to the middle of Cass’s chest--he and Enzo were sitting on the bed. Enzo was wearing the pajamas provided by the hotel and checking Twitter, his eyes bleary.

“You should get some sleep, Zo,” said Cass.

“I will. Just let me get caught up. Lots of people chattering while I was on the plane.” There was a squint in Enzo’s eyes that Cass didn’t like; he let Enzo scroll a little longer, then reached over and took the phone from his hand.

“Hey,” said Enzo, his indignation undermined somewhat when it became a yawn. “Stop it.”

“You gotta be careful of headaches, you know? Don’t push yourself so hard.”

“I’m _fine,_ ” Enzo said. “Stop babying me.”

“You ain’t _fine,_ you’re still recovering from a concussion, and concussions are--”

“-- _serious business,_ I know,” Enzo finished with him, rolling his eyes. “Just let me take a quick picture to put on Instagram,” he said, making a futile grab for the phone. 

Cass held it up out of reach. “In the morning,” he said. “Sleep now.”

“Yes, Nurse Cass,” Enzo said, sing-song sarcastic. But he lay down and closed his eyes as Cass turned off the lights, and fairly soon Cass could hear him snoring lightly.

Cass had thought he was exhausted, but he found himself unable to sleep. The hotel smelled--not bad, but different. The soap was unfamiliar. The air unfamiliar. Outside their window a train rattled by, its wheels chunking rhythmically on the rails. It didn’t sound like a New York train, somehow. 

The other side of the world.

The main roster.

Enzo’s breaths were the only familiar thing left in the world, and Cass listened to each and every one.

* * *

“Holy…” Becky heard Sasha’s voice trail away into a gasp as she looked out the huge plate glass window of the thirty-second floor lobby at the lights of Tokyo, spread out in every direction, stretching to the horizon.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?”

“It’s…” Sasha seemed to realize who she was talking to. “It’s cool enough, I guess,” she said.

“There’s no place in the world like this,” Becky said.

“Checked in,” said a cheerful voice behind them, and Becky turned to see Asuka smiling at them from under a cascade of rainbow-tinted hair. She was wearing a severe black business suit, which only made her look more unworldly somehow. “All taken care of.” She shot them both a peace sign and a jaunty grin. “I heard you go to Akihabara tomorrow. I go with you.”

“What?” said Becky.

“Why?” said Sasha.

The NXT Women’s champ laughed and tossed a playful fake punch at Becky’s jaw. “You get lost in subway, I can’t fight you Friday. Too bad.”

“Uh, alright, then. I admit I’m looking forward to seeing how my Irish lass kicking does against your Japanese ASUka-kicking.”

Sasha groaned. 

Asuka continued to smile brightly. “Kicking is good,” she said, very sincerely.

“And so tempting right now,” muttered Sasha.

“Oh yeah?” Becky grabbed her key from Asuka and pointed at Sasha. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning and we’ll see if we can survive a day together.”

“Sounds fun!” said Asuka as Becky stormed toward the elevators.

* * *

“Oh my God! It’s over there! Get it! _Get it!_ ”

There is only perhaps one thing in the world more funny than the sight of three huge, muscular guys freaking out and trying to kill a cockroach.

And that would be _two_ huge, muscular guys freaking out and trying to kill a cockroach while the third one pleads earnestly for its life.

“It’s not its fault!” Kevin yelled as Juice and Sami stomped and cursed. “It’s more scared of you than you are of it!”

“Oh, I doubt that!” hollered Juice as the cockroach--a good two and a half inches long and equipped with terrifyingly buzzy wings and a tendency to leap right at one’s face--skittered between his legs.

“It’s got a life! It’s probably got a family!”

“Oh my God, don’t remind me!” howled Juice. “I don’t want to think about it!”

“Damn it, why didn’t I stay at a hotel?” Sami moaned, trying to mash it with his suitcase. “No, Juice said, stay with me, it’ll be fun. And now I’m trapped here with an ugly, unstoppable, annoying pest!” He brought the bag down hard again. _“And also a cockroach!”_

Kevin swooped in between them and, with astonishing dexterity, scooped the cockroach into a plastic cup, clapping a lid on it. “There’s no need to say such rude things about Juice,” he said to Sami with immense dignity as the cockroach banged against the sides of the cup in blind fury. Opening the window, he dumped the bug out; Sami and Juice shuddered as it flew off into the night. “There. Problem solved.”

With the cockroach crisis averted, Sami looked around Juice’s apartment--tiny and run down, but clean. “I thought you’d still be staying at the dojo,” he said.

“I did for a while, but they let me get my own place recently. You’re my first guests.” Juice looked at them. “You guys do rock-paper-scissors or something; loser gets the guest room with me.” He shrugged as they looked confused. “I’m not so stupid that I’d make you share a room. I want my damage deposit back someday, you know.”

Kevin held out his hand and they did a quick throw. “Ha,” said Kevin in triumph, making a cutting motion with his fingers. “You _always_ throw paper.”

“I do not!” Sami said as Kevin went into the main bedroom.

Kevin popped back out to announce: “Dude. You totally do.”

Sami looked down at his open hand. “Do not.” He curled it experimentally into a fist. It didn’t feel right. “Do not,” he repeated, more quietly.

* * *

Cass looked up at the ceiling, listening to Enzo’s slow and steady breaths. They’d be going to Kyoto tomorrow, to see the sights. A day full of national treasures.

Enzo frowned against his pillow and Cass reached out before he could think better of it, smoothing the furrowed brow with his thumb. Enzo sighed in his sleep and the frown faded.

“Well,” said Cass softly, “tomorrow should be interesting.”

* * *

Becky opened the curtains and stared out at the glittering expanse of city, a vast panorama of adventures waiting to happen. A city full of delights. Full of possibilities.

She threw herself backwards onto the queen-sized bed, her arms outstretched.

“Well,” she announced to her room, “tomorrow should be interesting!”

* * *

Both Juice and Kevin snored, as it turned out. Sami lay awake, listening to the roar of scooter gangs zooming by in the night, watching the strips of headlights wash across the ceiling.

Juice had announced that the three of them were by God spending the day together in Kyoto and he would listen to no arguments to the contrary. 

From the other room, Kevin’s snore reached its apex. Sami knew the rhythm of the sounds Kevin made sleeping by heart: the way his breaths rattled in his throat, the way they climbed upward before breaking down into a startled snort and then a moment’s blessed peace. A powerbomb of a snore. _This is the point I would have usually thrown something at him. Or kicked him._

Kevin groaned and Sami could hear the bedclothes rustle as he rolled over. Juice’s snore filled in the moment of silence.

Sami closed his eyes and tried to feel like a superstar.

His last thought before he finally fell asleep was: _Oh man, tomorrow should be interesting._


End file.
